Brothers
by InfinityIllusion
Summary: Yamamoto Takeshi is pretty easy going. However, when he runs into one of his brother's boyfriends and realizes he's a part of the mafia, Yamamoto feels that the man has to prove he's still worthy of his brother. Even if said brother's boyfriend is the Sword Emperor. Now a drabble series (prompts welcome).
1. Brothers

**Um, yeah, so...really sorry it's been so long. Here's a little fic to tide ya'll over until I FINALLY get Connections chapter 8 up. And just so you know, I have no idea where this came from.**

**Background:** Harry is Yamamoto's adopted brother. Who apparently has some secrets and has been away for two years.

**Pairing:** Xanxus/Squallo/Harry (If this bothers you, please don't bother reading, although the focus is not romance and thus the pairing is stated, but nothing actually happens). Eh, hinted (at least one-sided) Yamamoto/Gokudera.

**Warning:** Possible Ooc-ness from Yamamoto. But, I'm sure he's not nearly as laid back on the inside as he is on the outside, so this is just one possible way he might react to this situation.

**Brothers**

_How can I repay you brother mine?_

-Song: Brothers from FMA

Takeshi had had a shock the first time he saw Squallo. It wasn't the man's sword, nor his hair, but merely the fact that _his brother's boyfriend was in the MAFIA and he didn't know!_ So, while Takeshi hadn't demonstrated his best abilities in that initial fight, he certainly had motivation to get better. A _lot_ better. He had to make sure, after this new information, that the man his aniki was dating was still worthy of dating his brother. Because if aniki didn't know that the silver-haired male was in the mafia…well, Takeshi could be very creative with his grudges.

He scared his dad pretty badly, Takeshi knew. It wasn't every day he came home and completely ignored baseball (the team hadn't taken his temporary departure well. "WHAT!" "Yamamoto, are you sure?! You're not feeling sick or anything, right?" "Nah, he's just kidding….right?" He was slightly sorry to have made the coach faint, though). But, after all, family came first.

So it wasn't surprising that the day before the Ring Battles were to begin, his dad looked at him and finally asked, "Son, why are you committing so much of yourself to this? It goes beyond your dedication to Tsuna-kun."

Takeshi just smiled (this was something that was only between his brother's boyfriend and him). "Hmm, well, the guy I have to fight is pretty strong."

Of course his dad didn't buy it. On the other hand, his dad knew him well enough to leave it be. Takeshi couldn't keep it from him forever, after all.

~IiI~

He watched Sasagawa-san's match. They were good – both of them. But even though the Varia member was better (the man simply had too much experience for Sasagawa-san to overcome in two weeks), the early underestimation of Sasagawa-san gave the teen the chance to even the field. Still, Takeshi knew that there was only a slight chance that Sasagawa-san would win. The tie was a bittersweet victory – better than he had secretly hoped, for all his external optimism, but worse than he had lead the others to hope.

At least Sasagawa-san hadn't been hit by the lightening Varia.

~IiI~

Lambo's match was very, very, _very_ hard for Takeshi to watch. There's something incredibly wrong with sending a five year old into any arena, let alone one against a man who has more than a decades worth of experience over the child. Too bad they'd not had a choice.

Takeshi's relief at seeing Lambo's 15 year old self was nearly tangible. The others also demonstrated their own relief that the plan would work ("Plan? What plan? Lambo was practically a sacrifice!" a small, dark and indignant voice shouted in the back of Takeshi's head. It sounded like his aniki. Takeshi shivered minutely. He didn't want a part in this if they would be forced to sacrifice a _child_. But they didn't have a choice. Part of Takeshi wondered inanely if when his aniki heard about this he would blame Tsuna, the Varia, the Cervello, or the Nineth….) through the various celebrations and exclamations. Even Hibari looked mildly relieved. However, that Lambo had to use the bazooka again, did not bode well for the rest of them in their matches. But they _had to win._

~IiI~

Watching the Storm battle was, personally, the hardest for Takeshi to watch between the Sun, Lightening, and Storm battles. Gokudera may be a prickly, sarcastic, lonely, delinquent, but he's genuinely a good person. Takeshi knows how Gokudera feels towards Tsuna – the feeling of having someone finally acknowledge you is beyond amazing. His aniki was the first to see him and Takeshi still has a similar hero-worship of the man.

But seeing Gokudera be sliced, bombed, and generally beat up didn't make Takeshi happy knowing he can't do anything about it. The other teen was probably his closest friend, after Tsuna (and sometimes before Tsuna, because Takeshi can see a future where there will be things that Gokudera and he will shelter Tsuna from, as much as they can).

He feelings on the battle, especially when Tsuna forced Gokudera to forfeit before the Storm flame holder dies, had absolutely nothing to do with the odd feelings he got around Gokudera. None at all. (He told the voice that sounded like his aniki to shut up and asked it how long it took his brother to finally ask a person out. The voice shut up smugly.)

~IiI~

And then it's his turn. He finally gets to test himself against Squallo, who must have been here without his brother from all the flailing that he's doing. The man was always much more calm in his brother's presence, even if the Xanxus always caused him to spazz even more. Part of him hurts because that means that his brother isn't here to see his fight. But then he reminds himself that he hadn't asked the man to come – so how could he have known?

But, just before they enter the modified swimming pool – or whatever, a shadow approaches his opponent. A very familiar shadow.

He can just make out what his aniki tells Squallo – "If you hurt my brother permanently, I'll kill you. If you play with him – you're in the dog house for a month. Or more." – and it has him trying very, very hard not to laugh at Squallo, at himself for doubting his brother in any way, and at his brother's antics. And maybe there's a small amount of resentment for his aniki's protective streak, but he knows how much it must cost the man to let them fight under these conditions and just stand by, so he lets it be. His brother is home for once!

~IiI~

And the fight is amazing. There is nothing – not even his dream of winning Koshien – that will ever match this feeling, this exhilaration. But of course it ends. And seeing his brother's pride in him makes it all that much better, even if he still feels mildly guilty over the various wounds he inflicted on one of his brother's boyfriends.

"ANIKI!" He crashes into the man and hangs on tight after placing his sword on the ground for a lack of a better place to put it while hugging his brother. Skype is all well and good, but hugging the computer can't beat hugging his brother.

His brother laughs. "Take-chan, it's good to see you. Excellent win over Squallo."

He just hugs him tighter.

"Hey, come on, I was only gone for two years."

"…It was a long time."

"Hmm… Looks like we have a lot to talk about then."

"…"

"I thought so."

They stand there a moment longer, undisturbed, until the Varia and Tsuna's group pick their collective mouths off the ground and burst into noise.

"WHAAAAAAAAT?! YAMAMOTO'S BROTHER IS PART OF THE VARIA?!"

"Trash! Why didn't you tell us about your family!?"

"Traitor! You told them about us didn't you!"

And various other mixed reactions.

His brother just rolled his eyes. Takeshi grinned.

Finally, his brother took a deep breath and bellowed, "SHUT YOUR TRAPS!"

A stunned silence fell.

"Good. Yes, we're brothers. No, it's not biological – this one just decided to adopt me. Yes I am technically part of the Varia. No, Levi you arse, I didn't tell him anything about any of you. Xanxus, get your head out of your arse before you end up in the dog house, too. I'm still not happy that you let Levi fight the five year old. Also, why would I tell you lot – a bunch of assassins – about my family outside the mafia? Grow up. Nice to meet you, Tsuna-kun and co. I've heard a lot of good things about you. Now, lets move before I have to kill some bitches in glasses, ok?"

The Cervello took that as their cue to leave.

The groups slowly began to move from the school grounds, but not before Takeshi dragged his brother over.

"So, guys, this is my brother, Potter Hari. He's really awesome, but can't pitch to save his life."

"Thanks, Take-chan. Love you too. Anyways, like I said, nice to meet you all and as Take-chan said, my name is Potter Hari. Among the Varia, my name is Orcus."

And at that, Reborn looked startled.

Harry simply smiled at them all.

**Owari.**

**NB: **Orcus - one possible translation from the Latin is "Death," the equivalent to the Greek Thanatos. Otherwise, it can simply refer to the Underworld/Pluto's Domain. Ah, context.

**So, yeah, no idea where this came from. It decided to bonk into my head with it's cousin, a Pitch Black/Riddick x HP crossover... Uh, anyone wanna beta that one for me?**

**Please leave a review.**

**~Illusion~**


	2. The Interim

**A/N:** Hi. I apologize for not posting last week. I could tell you all about it, but most of you will want to just read this chapter. Sufficed to say, I wan't in the greatest of mental spaces (still aren't, but it's at least better). Thus, I came up with this chapter, since I identify a lot with Yamamoto. For those of you who wanted to see the continuation of the last chapter, I apologize. It is likely that it shall be the next chapter. Feel free to think of this as the backstory, partial though it is, to the previous chapter. Also, this has been turned into a drabble series, so chapters may not be in any sort of chronological order (however, knowing myself, they probably will have some general sense of chronology). If you want a timeline, feel free to let me know.

**Warning:** Angst, dark themes, suicidal thoughts, reference to attempted suicide. Please note that as a result of this chapter, the rating has been upped to Teen.

* * *

**The Interim**

The room was dark and silent, even as rain lashed at the window above Takeshi's head and the storm raged at Namimori. Still, Takeshi sat there, head buried in his knees, ignoring the world to focus on his own pain and troubles. It wasn't a common thing, he didn't spend much time on self-pity and other dark emotions, but some days just became too much. Especially… Especially after his aniki had left.

He knew. He _knew_ that it was selfish to want his brother with him. His brother was amazing and wonderful and talented and deserved to have a chance to make his life without a younger (adopted) brother dogging his every move and dragging him down. That knowledge didn't do a thing when he was alone to face his fears.

Takeshi's hands moved from awkwardly grasping each other around his knees to burying themselves in his hair, clutching his head to prevent it from exploding – though that was preferable to turmoil boiling within him. Around the teen, the almost nonexistent shadows seemed to twitch maliciously. Whispers caressed Takeshi's ears, mimicking the voices of the teammates he thought his friends. Ha. _Thought._

Reflexively, he closed his eyes tighter against the pain, against the imagined and recalled whispers, against the world. The world didn't need him. Didn't need a boy who couldn't even fulfill his one purpose on the baseball team. Didn't need a child who still clung to the best protector he'd ever and would ever have. Didn't need a weak teen at his breaking point.

That was all he was. At the edge, teetering precariously on the fine line between shaky ground and the beckoning, soothing water. It was times like these that Takeshi thought he should've been a swimmer.

But then the temptation would've been too much to bear.

Drowning… That was an ok way to go. Sure, he might not be much to look at afterwards, but it'd serve those harpies and jealous two-facers right. Wait. Then they'd be _right_.

They _weren't_ right.

Somewhere, a part of Takeshi was screaming. It was like a child, wailing to be attended to, screeching for attention. He didn't want to acknowledge that part of him. It didn't exist except in his mind, but those screams were building in his chest. Real.

He swallowed them down. No one was here to hear them. His father was out, attending to something or another (and, although they understood one another, there were just some things he couldn't talk to his father about – he wouldn't even have talked about this to his mother, had she still been alive. It was an unfortunate twist of his personality), and he'd never call his aniki about this. Ever. He couldn't just _call_ about it and his best friend/protector/shoulder/crutch was nowhere near enough to be able to _talk_ to him.

He could fix this. It would be fine. It _would_ be fine. It would be _fine_. He'd make it fine.

But first he had to break.

Hauling himself up, Takeshi shuffled to his bed. He lay down, pulled the covers over his head, blocked the world out.

So he lay curled under the cover of his self-made darkness.

_Go away. Go away, go away… go away…._

~IiI~

Slowly, he was dragged to consciousness by the infernal clock, flashing and beeping, alerting him of the time left before he reentered purgatory.

He blinked at it, slow, languid. _Why did he care…?_

Still, routine had him forcing himself from the warm protection of his bed and across the cold floor to his dresser and closet to find his uniform. He pulled on the clothes, disconnected from his actions, mind blank and grey. Barren.

He continued on. Made his way down the stairs to the back kitchen to make breakfast for himself before leaving his dad a note about what groceries needed to be restocked. Cleaned up. Moved back upstairs to the cool white bathroom. Stopped. Stared.

Nothing was different. Not really. His hair was still short and spiky and black. Skin lightly tanned, though he seemed to be off a shade or two this morning. Nose still straight, though his lips were just a little thinner than he thought they were, just a few more invisible lines on his face that weren't there yesterday (or maybe they were…). His eyes were still dark, but where they had always had a bit of ocher flame behind them, there was none. Not a spark. Not an ember.

He kept starring as he brushed his teeth. And then his routine changed.

He pasted on a smile instead of summoning his optimism to create a real (if temporary) mask.

It was brittle, cracked around the edges and hiding his eyes and their change from the world. Never would his aniki have believed it. But then, his aniki was the one who had shown him that such masks existed.

However, it would be enough. Everyone would believe it, when they saw it. The smile wasn't all that different from the ones he'd been giving for nearly two years now. It was just the final product of his dying flame.

~IiI~

When Takeshi looked at the sky above the school, he thought about his brother and how he must be doing with his success in the world. He'd been exchanging emails, but…he could lie in the emails. Face to face, his brother would read all the signs that he couldn't cover – the slight lines, the faint waver in his eyes, the too flat voice, and the countless nuances that screamed to his aniki of the falsities emanating from his lips.

It was a terrifying prospect, to lie and get away with it from the one person who would always force him to be truthful. And that feeling of terror swallowed him whole.

What had been small untruths, tweaks really, started spilling over until the entire message was just a lie based on what little truth Takeshi could force himself to include.

Suddenly, Takeshi laughed. Hysterically, brokenly, he laughed out his troubles and pain.

And then he stood.

Arms spread wide, he stood on the edge of the roof, a mockery of embracing the all-encompassing sky, with his face lifted and his eyes closed.

No one was around; no one could see him (they were blinded by the mask he hated both himself and his brother for nearly _perfecting_) just as he couldn't see anyone (he could see them too well). He had a chance. It wasn't drowning, but with the storm clouds brewing dark and menacing over his head, he could just be a raindrop. Made slowly, only to sacrifice itself to find that one moment of freedom before the planet regained it.

He could do it. He could. Really.

…But no. Not yet. Not _quite_ yet.

_They_ needed to see.

He turned his back on the edge and scrambled back over the pathetic fence. Tomorrow…

~IiI~

Tsuyoshi noticed the shift, slight though it was. But he was a father and a retired assassin. He knew these shifts were not favorable. So he called the one person who could possibly fix it. He prayed that it would be enough, that it wasn't too late, that it wouldn't be the end.

And that person had already known. It angered him. One of the few times he lost his temper after retiring and the only time he'd wished that he _hadn't_ retired.

Exhausted, he slammed the phone close, ignoring the urge to smash it, placed the electronic gently on the counter and placed his head in his hand.

All he could do is pray.

~IiI~

In the space of Takeshi's voicemail, a new message appeared from an obscure location.

It wouldn't be heard until after two days passed, as the sender had known. Time was the true master, after all.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please, leave a review.

For those of you wondering, yes, the last line will come into play later on in the story. Yes, I know that wasn't how (spoiler?) I had previously referred to Harry. If you have any pressing questions, feel free to ask and I shall explain to the best of my abilities without giving away any future chapters.

For those fans who've read **Connections**: watch me totally fail at making a drabble series and have yet another fic grow a plot.

~Illusion~


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